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[Kristin Meredith]

We are now receiving the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. This image is of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723.  Pictured are thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – being seen for the first time. This slice of the vast universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground. That is simply mind boggling to me -- i.e. that this photo, with thousands of galaxies, represents just a small sliver of the galaxies out there.  I can't wrap my mind around it!  I am not a science person, so maybe someone who is is not so impressed, but I just can't fathom the enormity of the universe.

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[Canadian John]

 Sheerly amazing!     We know so little about our surroundings.
 

[reubenray]

What I can't understand is what is the purpose of this that cost a huge amount of money?

[ICIdaho]

What I can't understand is what is the purpose of this that cost a huge amount of money?

I would hope the purpose is exploration and pushing the bounds of our knowledge to continue learning.  The reality is, the sun will incinerate the earth someday as it continues going through its phases on its way to a Red Giant phase.  Maybe by doing something like this, some may survive and find another planet inhabitable before the suns size encompasses our orbit. 

[urnmor]

I believe this is important on many fronts as it shows there are many galaxies out there.  Based on the number I also believe there are other universes that have life on it.  Only time will tell

[GREG-B]

If they do find new life forms in another galaxy, the first message will probably be...."this is to inform you that the warranty on your new car is about to expire".   

[BigDave83]

I always found i interesting, more so when I was younger. But with age and seeing the changes in lives and living conditions on this planet, I honestly believe the funds could be better used.

Sure it may be great to know what else is out there and where there are other life forms, but honestly what good does that do us? For me it only serves to make me question things more. Questions that are probably not appropriate for this forum.

[hughver]

What I can't understand is what is the purpose of this that cost a huge amount of money?

The first few years of my career were spent working on the Saturn 5 program. You wouldn't believe how much of today's life is based on products and processes developed for that program.

[pmillen]

[02ebz06]

 

[Bentley]

Lets pick an arbitrary speed for our space craft, say 1000 Light Years per hour.  I had 3 weeks of Physics at U C Davis before realizing I would not pass the 1st test.  I have read nothing one can travel faster then the speed of light.  I guess you can Warp space to make it closer, but not with my SAT scores.  Earth is about 25,000 light years from the center of the galaxy, and another 50,000 to the far edge. Taking this data, we say that we want to travel to that far edge.  It will take about 75 hours.  3 days, not bad.  I am not a world traveler, but I am pretty sure that you can fly to 95% of this globe in 24 hours.  Again, 3 days of travel is not a hardship for most.

Now there are minor galaxies closer, like the Large Magellanic Cloud, but they are primarily gaseous elements and presence of metallic elements is greatly diminished. Ergo, no planets.

So our next closest galaxy is Andromeda.  It is 2,500,000 light years away. Even I can do the math on the time for that trip without a calculator.  If we had left When Daniel was sitting with the Lions we would be arriving now.

God never said were were exclusive, he just said we were made in his image.  I believe there could be billions of other inhabited worlds out there.  Or we could also simply be it, we could be that special, and I think that freaks some people out.  Either way, none of those hypothetical races will ever meet unless God wants it!